americans flock to voting stations after the end of a bitterly fought presidential campaign though fears over fraud in some polls go digital. will wait anxiously for the outcome and for many nations is a case of hoping and victory for the devil you know. plus on the second day of strikes in greece and nationwide freezes the country as lawmakers prepare to vote for the new cuts crucial for a fresh. cash. must go claims high tech american weapons are reaching rebels in syria and accuses the west a meter of fraud reporting about russia's arms sales.

international comment live from our new center here in moscow this is where the ballots now open across mainland america voters are flocking to decide their president their voting is already hitting obstacles from the superstorm wrecked the northeast experiencing trouble with polling stations to allegations of parties on voter suppression and even ballot tampering elsewhere and it's not going to a correspondent in the states for more on the day's events so far. first how's the voting going at this stage of the day. bill for now it looks like president obama has the edge over governor romney this election is really fought in just a handful of states the so-called swing states or battleground states and different surveys of those battleground states president obama is holding small advantages in

nevada ohio iowa and wisconsin i guess we have to explain to our international viewers why is it that we're talking about valid ground battleground states all the time because not all votes are equal in the us india like to a college system some votes are never counted it's a winner take all system where if a candidate loses a state they get zero alike troll votes from that state doesn't matter how many people voted for them in that state i was at a coffee shop this morning talking to people as i often do and there was a young man a democrat from texas who voted for president obama by mail having requested an absentee ballot he went to all the people who work knowing perfectly well that he's vote would not be counted because the state of texas is a solid red state that is republican so all democrat votes there don't count at all in the electoral college president obama will get zero electoral votes from texas

and there was another young man in a similar situation telling me how much he would want his votes to actually count and i hear more and more people express their frustration about that in the u.s. especially young people. going to thanks very much indeed for that let's cross now from washington to new york a marine is there we've also heard about ongoing voting problems in the northeast maria tell us more about. that's right the first duration that's being expressed in states along the northeast has much more to do from what i'm hearing about the voting process in the aftermath of hurricane sandy and the damage she has caused in new york in new jersey hundreds of voting pools have been wiped out as a result we're seeing long long lines throughout new york and new jersey lots of people lighting up over crowding just to cast their ballot but there's also been

a mounting amount of problems in manhattan for example there have been voting delays reported because election officials couldn't find ballot cards and scanners weren't working properly in staten island where tens of thousands at least ten thousand if not more are still living without electricity those people were seen voting by flashlight voting by paper ballots military trucks have also been set up throughout new york and new jersey as make shift polling stations in new jersey where more than two hundred forty polling locations were destroyed government officials are now allowing voters to cast their ballot via fax or by e-mail now this many cyber security say cyber security experts say can lead to enormous problems because how can you get into the system wipe out votes delete votes or change votes meantime in florida there have been reports that robo calls have been

made to hundreds of voters stating that it's an election supervisor calling these people telling them that election day is actually on wednesday not on tuesday not taking place right now at this moment in florida lines outside of pulling locations are also getting about three hours long according to reports in the state is also dealing with lawsuits that have been filed over early voting suppression meantime in oregon there. been allegations over food or fraud and ballot tampering in nevada democrats are being accused of registering illegal immigrants democrats are also being accused in states such as ohio north carolina of instructing the elderly and mentally disabled to vote for u.s. president barack obama meanwhile authorities in texas in iowa have now threatened international election monitors with arrest if they even approach voting locations so clearly the american alexion system is facing its

challenges on this pivotal day where the electorate where the united states where voters will be deciding their president for the next four years nothing's going to the soon to be a lot of disenchantment we the two front runners but what about the challenges. well bill according to a gallup poll forty percent of americans identify themselves as independents these are tens of millions of people who would have possibly voted for a party other than republican or democratic if they had the choice but they don't you do have alternative candidates in this election but their voices have been blacked out by the us mainstream media which are entirely focused on the two party race we had a debate here in our in our studio in our studio just the other day between the two leading alternative candidates in this election and they did offer views distinctly

alternative to those of barack obama and mitt romney gets a parrot a short clip of some of their remarks take a listen. which is higher corporate tax rates and the notion that we've been a country that stood up to the bully as opposed to being a bully it's a growing police state quite obviously we can end the failed racist war on drugs downsize the military and the drone wars bring the troops home let's stop with our military interventions let's get out of afghanistan to morrow thirty thousand drones flying over the united states what are they flying over the united states for in the unemployment and jumpstart the green economy that spells an end to climate change and makes wars for oil obsolete it is actually quite difficult for an independent candidate to get on the ballot in the us something that i heard green party's jill stein talk about very often campaign financing is a huge issue here especially with the supreme court ruling which now allows

corporations to funnel as much money as they want into a political campaigns which makes it virtually impossible for someone without the backing of the big party machines to win an election because big money goes to the big parties the election campaigns of mitt romney and barack obama have cost the round a billion dollars each one of those alternative candidates of course we're debating this monday night could catch up with that kind of spending the moment of. all the ads that we've seen in this election cycle has been staggering so it's quite hopeless to be an independent in the us but again here even if one is a staunch believer in one of the two party candidates your vote may never be their vote may never be counted it is a problem for those who think democratic process is when all votes are equal and counted my call is going to the future of expends on that in this report. you elected me to tell you the truth honesty is the best policy while maybe not in u.s.

elections two words define why people hate america double standard on everything in this presidential election season these two words are back in full swing the basic definition of a double standard is a rule or principle unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups let's find out if this is relevant to the us election system from questionable voter id regulations to shorten to early voting time slots to gerrymandering rejoicing congressional district lines to favor certain party laws affecting voters' rights are passed left and right and vary state by state you have an error. this video shows how easy it is to attempt to steal attorney general eric holder's vote when an idea is not required actually forgot my id. yet places the do ask for government issued photo id in effect over ten percent of americans that simply don't have one there is an attempt to prevent large numbers of people from

actually exercising the ballot election monitors usually serve the purpose of keeping track of and discrepancies and while the us likes to keep a close eye on the way elections are handled abroad even the carter center which grows a rod and does the great we're monitoring the elections. refuses them ordered us elections on the grounds of. basic standards of integrity one election ideals are not met elsewhere criticism runs rampant elections in venezuela elections in iran elections in russia. the press will go to town on any sign that the outcome was fixed and while nit picking abroad is all the rage the elephant in the room remains unnoticed at home policymakers and to a great extent our media and and trickle down to the american people have literally the literally think that the rest of the world is stupid. that they don't see it that everybody naturally has to admit you know admire us that we're great and

that's not the case well obvious flaws are met with a deaf ear and here in and year out a flood of lection process continues to be the first vote cast in the u.s. and if there are two. whether or romney wins tell much will change in america's policy is still up for debate well let's discuss the two leading candidates with charles he's the senior fellow at the council on foreign relations joining me now live. from washington now the voters seem to be incredibly polarized when it comes to their preferred candidates convinced that the opposing candidate all of those offers them nothing is that sentiment healthy for the country at the moment. no it's not healthy for the country in the united states is passing through a period of ideological polarization that we have not seen really since the nineteenth century and i think that at heart it is

a product of the economic crisis and the degree to which the middle class has been going through some some lean years and therefore the key task ahead is trying to jumpstart the economy get ordinary americans working again that's the first step toward repairing the ideological cleavage is that are polarizing the public and also making it very hard for any president to govern well let's talk about the economy do you see groups like the occupy movement flourishing in the future or do you think apathy could take over. well i think the occupy movement is an important development in the sense that it's really the first time since the vietnam war that you've seen sustained street protests in the united states they have died down from their peak but they're not gone and i think the key question and one of the key differences. what you see now between romney and obama is that obama is really striving to speak to the ordinary

american try to use investment in education in infrastructure in technology to try to get folks working again romney has a very different view he thinks that the government is the problem it needs to get out of the way and then small businesses and large businesses will flourish it's a it's a fundamental differences of opinion and it's one reason that right now you do see voters feeling quite passionately either toward romney or toward obama you're a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations so i've got to ask you this we've been speaking to north americans about the vote and what's striking is that much of the world is firmly behind above the why is that. i think for two main reasons one is that obama represents a new generation a multicultural and multi ethnic generation that in some respects i think many people around the world would like to see for their own countries and secondly

obama represented a brand of american foreign policy that many people around the world found a relief after the bush years the bush years were typified by a more unilateral less than a more ideological approach to foreign policy obama in the end of the day comes across as a pragmatist as a realist he wants to solve problems he's not on some kind of ideological agenda and i think one of the things that worries people is that romney sometimes sounds like george w. bush to he says he might go back to the more ideological foreign policy of the bush era it's not clear who romney is because sometimes he's a neo conservative sometimes he's a pragmatist but i think people are are worried about it on live in washington thank you very much indeed for your thoughts. well more still for you on the u.s. election focusing on what's at stake for the. in this vote including for america's closest allies something we've just been talking about in the interview that's in

just a few minutes after this. the six america votes for its next president. to take the wheel as the u.s. drives into the field to. get the news the mainstream misses without a close election coverage to his election up close. and dotcom. usually the police and occupy protesters are like oil and water but in atlanta they've come together to save the house of a former detective jacqueline barber unfortunately ms barber lost a lot of money battling cancer and was facing eviction which she turned to occupy homes for help so far she's managed to stay in her home despite it being sold out

from under her feet but the main thing is that her fight to stay in her home has become like a bridge between two groups who are usually at each other's throats the police and occupiers the thing is that cruel economic practices can affect us all even retired police like ms barber i know there are some irresponsible people who buy things they can't pay for and here the police have to do something about them but they shouldn't throw you out of your home that you've paid for for years just for getting cancer no one should have to live with the constant fear that their home will be taken away after years and years of payment just because they got sick and america i thought we believed in private property not eternally renting from big banks but that's just my opinion.

more news today violence is once again flared up the film these are the images kobold has been seeing from the streets of canada. china corporations are today. look. download the official location cell phones choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites and t.v. is not required to watch on t.v. you need a zero mobile device seen any time at. the mission and free accreditation free in-store charge is free. range

humans are free risk free studio time free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects and free media oh don darty dot com. to me speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world's hot spots that p.r.p. interviews intriguing stories for you to. see in trying. to. visit. r t you live here in moscow russia's foreign minister says sophisticated american surface to air missiles are making their way into the hands of rebel militias in syria he also accused the western media of twisting the facts in its reporting of

the civil war more now from marty's poll a slim. the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov speaking in the jordanian capital of amman has warned against western powers supplying syrian opposition fighters with illegal weapons he says that russia has evidence as well as information that the fighters are being supplied with high tech a face of equipment more than fifty stingers a chemical in the hands of the bull fighters and that equipment is made now in iraq also said that he was very surprised to find out that the b.b.c. says it has information that russia is supplying syria with weapons of mass destruction he said it was amazing to hear from a correspondent of such over suspected cooperation such claims being made at the same time he did say that russia was finishing its arms shipment to damascus and that these were deals that were made and old contracts but that the distinction needs to be made that these are only defensive weapons weapons that are not being

used in the conflict by comparison with the type of weapons that are making it into the opposition fighters today that are fueling the conflict on the ground not also say that russia's position is clear that they need to be talks between the syrian government and the opposition he said it is up to syrians to decide for themselves who they want in the transitional government and he warned against making from the outside now comments come as the syrian opposition needs in doha what we do know is that the meeting is aimed at bringing the opposition together but certainly the u.s. has previously suggested that it would hand pick some of the candidates for this new united opposition but we are seeing is washington taking and took part in forming this new body there are already reports within the opposition with some members claiming that the reshuffle has not been done copy and that what we've seen is old names newly being replaced by new names who really have the same political position there is growing concern of what will evolve in syria will be much the same as what happened in libya where western countries recognize the opposition as

the only egypt in the government and then launched military action big concern is that by not recognizing the syrian president bashar assad western nations will be given greater freedom to do what they want next country. and eric denise the director and founder of the french center for intelligence studies believes turkey and the gulf states are helping the u.s. transfer weapons to rebels on the ground we perfectly know that all this rebel groups i mean most of them are not salathiel they receive the strong support from the. group and directly sometimes in the north of that through the channel as well as in some detail so it's very difficult to know exactly what kind of very little we're going to receive. a matter of fact they are the strong support coming from the u.s. . back to the u.s. election now with a look at the candidates from the perspective of the outside world.

so many nations the u.s. election is almost as important as their own whether it be because of financial aid or protection and after four years of a bomb international leaders know who they're dealing with which is not the case with his republican rival what is your opinion of looks at what the democrats might have in store for the world or indeed the republicans what they should have in store for the world if i they get in power. i've come here to cairo to seek a new beginning between the united states and muslims around the world charismatic promising in new barack obama swept into office on the wake of the yes we can euphoria invoiced greed aspirations which even got him through two thousand and nine nobel peace prize we knew that change had come to egypt today the libyan people are writing a new chapter. obama personally supported the arab spring but as soon as all

governments fell a new powers emerged the murder of u.s. diplomats in libya and white spread anti american protests all over the muslim world didn't exactly show the kind of gratitude washington expected that's far as we are concerned and i'm speaking about the average person on the street including many arab nationalists now some riots left us and the people of different backgrounds we still view obama as a representative of us imperialism. with a sudden backlash in the middle east and back in washington the far east has become yet another source of irritation night i'm announcing the creation of a trade in forstmann unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trading practices in countries like china. president obama has been increasingly tough with china and it's not only about enforcement units and lawsuits washington has also been increasing its news for your presence in the pacific we absolutely have to

make more progress and that's where we're going to keep on pressing when it comes to the second largest economy in the world in this state which owns a major part of u.s. debt try to forget about this campaign rhetoric for a moment and regardless what romney said or brok obama said in the end i think they will adopt this same policy that is engagement and cooperation with china rather. president obama has also been trying to make progress with another. member of the u.n. security council russia my meaning has been viewed as the engine behind the research of relations with moscow but it's still unclear if it actually worked well long lasting stumbling blocks like washington's plans for an interim missile defense system in europe are still very much on the table what mr ballmer could do he has. said that evolution should have. brought them in so i don't think he can do

a border that don't have problems will not lead him too much to do perhaps the expectations for mr obama were too high and from the start despite positive aspirations and ideas as president of the united states barack obama's amish heavily depends on the washington spirals east and the image of his country in the world more controversial at best but if he does manage to win a second term in office it's clear the yes we can euphoria is gone and this time the world isn't a scheme to believe in his promises it's going off or to moscow well to discuss the prospects for america's foreign policy i'm joined live now by a london based author and journalist afshin rattansi russian understand you covered the last us election from iran so we'll talk about the iranian issue in just a moment but first washington about what it calls democratic change in the arab world and liberated libya and egypt from long standing dictators so why is an anti-american sentiment in those countries still strong. i think right around the

developing world they don't even see that the united states really has democracy at home that alone spreading democracy at large around the world in fact when i did anchor it in tehran doing your kind of job ill go read out was one of my helpers found friends and he is what he said was america has no democracy the idea that they can spread democracy around the world to the developing world is seen as plainly plainly ludicrous and of course obama himself along with biden backed the dictator of egypt mubarak right to the end so what is the prospect for iran both a bomb and romney they want to apply more pressure there will actually differ on their policy if i get some power. very little difference at all in a sense i mean the other helper was a xander coben both of those people that died we need them analyzing these things because both of them back then said there'd be very little difference between

a republican or a democrat as you can see from president obama's policy of covertly funding syrian rebels. did you know about assassinations in tehran on terror on streets of academics we don't know what we do know is american democracy works with the hand of a massive elite force money and occasionally we get a stepping down of an israeli president where one or prime minister whereupon an israeli prime minister just acts of his own accord and the american money keeps pouring in so how so many people have been hoodwinked into thinking that president obama or president romney would be different when it came to foreign policy views of iran. i don't know where they get that from lots of promises in the campaigning previously obama promised to shut down guantanamo bay and today is tonight for business and the president even has the power to assassinate anyone it will how can voters trust that will actually keep his pledges this time around if he gets in.

i'm not really sure president obama's pledges are i mean he's rude rhetoric as ever be useful either bruce springsteen seem to be singing and he obama songs in the rally in iowa twenty four hours ago or so but what is obama promising except this kind of vague idea of constructive engagement while all the time supporting the the well i mean it it's an odd word these terrorists we know president obama has been actively courting along with his secretary of state and he's will see the end of hillary clinton as secretary of state whoever wins this election. courting the relevance in the rebellion in syria and of course supporting all sorts of elements in libya president obama has been a disaster in terms of foreign policy let alone what he did in honduras or in central america in haiti and so forth it's more of the same except unlike george w. bush of course president obama kill list where he individually said that person

with whether he's a u.s. citizen or can be executed george w. bush never did that of course and of course he killed bin laden without any kind of judicial. judicial system so we really understood how bin laden was created to live in london thank you very much indeed for your thoughts well the high price of refuge thousands of pounds i handed to british authorities after julian assange violated his conditions for release party caught up with one of the people who posted bail find out whether he's still fully behind the world's top whistleblower and later this hour. also they're getting down to business we look at what the british prime minister has to offer the unelected monarchies of the gulf and he's low key trade tall. and a top level reshuffle in the russian government a corruption scandal claims the head of the country's defense ministry amid allegations of old one hundred million dollars hole in the nation's.